Magpies look long term with Pardew

Alan Pardew has been charged with the task of bringing sustained success to Newcastle after being handed a new eight-year contract.

Pardew, assistant John Carver, coach Steve Stone and goalkeeping coach Andy Woodman have all signed new long-term deals. Managing director Derek Llambias revealed owner Mike Ashley had made the decision in a bid to establish the kind of stability he has seen at Manchester United and Arsenal on Tyneside.

Llambias said: "If you look at clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have shown that stability gives you the best platform to achieve success and that is the model we wish to emulate here."

He added: "We are looking to build on the success we had last season and these new contracts are aimed at keeping the club progressing on and off the pitch, as we have done since returning to the Premier League in 2010.

"Alan has done a fantastic job over the last couple of years and has proved what a great Premier League manager he is."

Llambias claimed tying Pardew down to a long-term deal would put an end to Newcastle's recent history of lurching from one drama to the next.

He told the Daily Mirror: "You look at the last 25 years at Newcastle and it has only known drama, from the highs to the lows.

"They worked on those glory transfers and all the dramas behind them - glory and bust, with no success. What was the success? It was basically. 'I've signed a player!' That has to end. It has."

Pardew was appointed in December 2010 in the midst of yet another controversy after Chris Hughton, the man who had dragged the club back into the top flight after a hugely embarrassing relegation a year earlier, was shown the door.

But the former Reading, West Ham, Charlton and Southampton manager has since won over many of his doubters, maintaining the club's Premier League status at the end of that first season and then guiding them to a remarkable fifth-placed finish last time around.